Page 26 - Suncor 360

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MAY 2014
360

Safety takes centre stage

In case you haven’t noticed, Suncor’s pretty big on safety. It’s irst

and foremost among our company’s values, and it’s something we

urge, endorse, expect, preach, promote and practise in everything

we do, every day.

It’s also something we celebrate, nowhere Standout efforts in reversing unacceptable
more enthusiastically than through the safety records also happen at the individual

President’s Operational Excellence Awards level. For evidence, look no further than
(POEA). The Personal & Process Safety 2013 POEA recipient Brian Brown.

category shines a spotlight on individuals,
teams and businesses with ‘safety above all A drilling manager with Aberdeen’s Drilling,

else’ initiatives.
Completions & Interventions team, Brian
didn’t like what he saw when he irst

boarded the Awilco WilHunter – a North Among the things judges consider are
Sea rig that came to Suncor through a measurable improvements, such as a team

consortium commitment. Along with the or business that turned a shaky safety
rig and its crew came a terrible safety record into exemplary safety leadership. Personal Safety, Individual
Brian Brown, drilling manager, Exploration & Production,
left, with president and CEO Steve Williams.
record – an average of one injury every
Just like Oil Sands did.
16 days!
For a long time, personal safety was a

A man of action, Brian led his team in thorn in the side of Oil Sands. Their

developing a 12-point improvement plan leadership team responded with a
that ignited a dramatic improvement in concerted effort to set solid expectations,

safety performance in just 48 hours. For the adhere rigorously to standards and
remaining 176 days of the drilling program, procedures, leverage new and existing key

the rig experienced zero safety incidents.
performance indicators, strengthen
investigative capabilities and spearhead
Of course, outstanding safety performance
awareness and engagement campaigns –
isn’t just about reversing poor safety all with a view to reducing risk and
metrics. It’s also about managing safety
improving accountability.
risks and preventing incidents from
happening in the irst place.
And guess what – it worked! They cut Oil

Sands’ recordable injury frequency (RIF) by
That was the aim of the Caprock Integrity
more than half from 2009 to 2013, and
squad. This team of geoscientists and reduced high-risk incidents from 655 in
reservoir engineers at Firebag was
2009 to just 88 in 2013.
determined to keep the immense heat
energy – generated by nearly a decade of For their determination and success in
Process Safety, Business Unit / Functional Area
high-pressure steam injection – safely addressing a highly visible safety issue, the Safe SAGD Operation at Firebag, Oil Sands & In Situ
contained by the reservoir’s geological business unit received a 2013 POEA for Thumbs up for safety! David Burdziuk, left, and
Graham MacFarlane show some attitude, and gratitude,
caprock. And when you consider that the Personal Safety.
for their award.
heat energy stored in Firebag’s reservoir is

equivalent to about 40 megatons of TNT,
you’ll appreciate the importance of the

team’s work.